Essay on James Joyce's The Dubliners
Maria and Little Chandler are characters who have life goals, however, due to their inadequate personalities these goals are impossible. They are rather weak and helpless people which is only enhanced through their childlike appearances and mannerisms. Their inadequacy to deal with life is a major obstacle in achieving their goals: Maria's hidden goal being marriage/love and Little Chandler's goal being to become a successful poet. This infantile inadequacy is physically and openly displayed through their consistent feelings of shyness and timidity and through their reactions to marriage. The major difference between Little Chandler's inability to correctly deal with life and that of Maria is their outward action. Little Chandler shows through his mannerisms his inadequacy while Maria only shows hers through her mindset not making it public. Maria does not generally truly believe herself inadequate. However, through much of her behavior it seems that at times she does. Maria and Little Chandler are very inadequate thereby not allowing themselves to achieve their full potential. This inadequacy is stressed throughout Clay and A Little Cloud and is emphasized by Maria's and Little Chandler's very childlike appearance
Contrarily, Little Chandler is married. However, like Maria, he is still shy about the concept of marriage and at times Joyce speaks of Little Chandler's child and his wife, Annie, as if they are disconnected from Little Chandler. Little Chandler's first reaction after Gallaher's mention of his marriage is to "blush and smile." (Cloud, pg. 68) After Gallaher mentions Little Other than their juvenile appearances and mannerisms, Maria and Little Chandler were also inadequate due to their timidity. Maria's shyness is shown through her encounter with the elderly gentleman on the tram. The gentleman began to "chat with her" (Clay, pg. 90) and as he did she "favoured him with demure nods and hems." (Clay, pg. 90) The text gives no evidence that Maria have a conversation with the man on the train or even replied to the man's comments with the spoken English language. Rather, she simply gives him "demure nods and hems." Demure is the key word in this phrase because it shows that even her "nods and hems" were modest, shy and reserved in manner: the definition of demure. Maria could not bring herself to actually speak to the man until she was leaving the tram at the Canal Bridge. Chandler's child, "Little Chandler blushed again." (Cloud, pg. 68) This shows Little Chandler's shyness and perhaps embarrassment toward the concept of his marriage. Joyce then goes on to separate Little Chandler from the rest of his family. In Little Chandler's home when Joyce mentions Little Chandler's baby he refers to Little Chandler's baby as "the child" (Cloud, pg.72-74) as opposed to Little Chandler's child or even simply his child. Joyce also does this with Annie. After the baby begins to cry hysterically for quite a while Annie comes back into the room. However, Joyce does not say Annie runs back into the room, but rather he says "a young woman ran in" (Cloud, pg. 73) creating the image that Little Chandler is only married legally and there is no real true connection between he and his family. s and mannerisms. Maria is described as a "very, very small person" (Clay, pg. 87) as Little Chandler "gave one the idea of being a little man." (Cloud, pg. 60) Little Chandler's "frame was fragile...his voice was quiet...his hands were white and small" (Cloud, pg. 60) and he had a row of "childish white teeth" (Cloud, pg. 60) also giving him an adolescent appearance. One also receives the impression of Little Chandler's childlike inadequacy as he enters the bar in which he meets Gallaher. "The bar seemed
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1695
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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